For as much fun as we were having at the beach, Ev could hardly wait to go to the city house and I don’t even know how many times we heard requests to go to Scout. I’m laying that one all at Poppi’s feet.

San Luis is just a great town and my parents house offers some prime lounging spots. Little friends met up at the downtown park and then came over for some fountain bathing. SLO Donut Company did not disappoint although I could have partaken in a few more. Firestone was just as delicious as always and I drooled and window shopped through many a store.

One morning, my parents had taken Ev on a little date while the rest of the family slept in. Naturally, they were in the right place at the right time to be interviewed on television concerning the moving of a San Luis landmark. When we finally found it hours later, we replayed it about 23 times in a row and died laughing every time. Here’s the link. You’re welcome.

Lovely days. So thankful for these memories and the ability to make them.

And now back to Virginia days where I now wake up in my huge bed, with Wes! Weird you might say. But no, Jack booted me out of bed every single night around 3 am.

My kids have the tendency to be little mice. They will often sit back and just observe whatever’s going on with a ‘huh. how intriguing’ expression. While this can be nice in certain settings, such as library hour, it’s also really wonderful to watch them get out of this mode and make friends. Like, one of my favorite things because…it’s adorable.

Such a fun evening. Wonderful having friends on both sides of the country.

Also. Fun fact. Whenever people ask how Wesley and I met, I tell them we met at a friends wedding reception; I knew the groom, he knew the bride. Those little girls happen to be the children of said groom and bride.

As we walked onto our second airplane, I turned to Wes and said, ‘I really hope I won’t have to nurse Ivy between two men.’ (We no longer get to travel together because of all the children).

And as we approached 35E, I looked ahead and remarked, ‘yep, nursing between two men’. The guy in front of me turned around and laughed/grinned but offered a sincere ‘I’m sorry,’ through his laugh.

The two guys were fine and pretended not to notice all the shirt adjustments and Ivy’s feet kicking them. One was also very helpful and when I slid into the seat juggling a backpack and sleeping Ivy, sweatshirt and blanket, he asked what he could do.

So I asked him to help me buckle my seat belt. Naturally, I was sitting on the strap that he was trying to reach.

And so with a, ‘Well if you’ll just excuse me’, (me realizing and trying to lift my rear off the chair) ‘I’ll just reach down here…’. Insert laughing/crying emoticon face. Haha. Still makes me laugh.

We landed in LA and were there for hours. All of us fell to sleep and then at 2 am Virginia time, Wes woke me up to board the flight with our three sleeping kids. And thus began us trying to figure out how to carry everyone without anyone waking up freaking out.

I had Ivy and had just boarded, Wes was on the plane trying to figure out where to put Jack and Ev was still asleep in the stroller on the walkway. After much pondering, a gentleman spoke up and asked if Jack would be okay if he held him. And without further ado, I dumped Ivy in his arms, scooped Jack up, Wes got Ev and the man and the flight attendant followed us to the back of the plane.

The flight attendant delivered a spiel on where we could sit with our lap infants and when she finally finished, me and Wes stared at each other like ‘what?’ and then turned to the man with Ivy and asked if he knew where we were supposed to sit. So he told us, gave us Ivy and I could have hugged him on the spot.

Moral of the story. If you are traveling without children and you are kind to the people who are traveling with children, it will make their day and be so incredibly appreciated.

These are some memories I will hold in my heart. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I’m on the younger end of the grandkids and growing up, whenever I thought about it, I’d always feel a little bit sad that my grandparents would probably never meet my kids. I’m so glad I was quite wrong and that two weeks ago, they got to meet our third cherub and build memories with our other two.

Grama does so well with babies and I loved watching her bounce Ivy around and coax little smiles from her.

Jack adores many people and he especially adored Grampa. The mutual affection these two Earls had for each other kinda made my heart overflow.Jack would run over to Grampa and lift his arms up and I’d say, ‘Grampa! Don’t lift him, he’s too heavy!’.

Grampa always listens to me.

We got to spend a bit of time with them in their home, puttering around doing a few projects and I’m so happy Ev got to experience a bit of the magic of Grama’s gardens. I still have vague childhood memories of her gardens at their last place with a tire swing and creek and little pathways and I love that Ev gets a bit of the same.

Truly lovely. She was so sweet to them and would ask Grampa, while he was in the dining room and she in the living room, ‘Grampa, are you happy that you’re here?’. We told her she’d have to get a bit closer for him to hear her.

Essentially, we traipsed across the country because I wanted to take one more beach walk with my grandparents and I’m so thankful for that gift. Praying for more times but thankful for my storehouse of memories.

It was a bit spur the moment but I’m incredibly thankful we said what the heck, let’s do it. It really would have been an epic travel day but winter storm Stella snowed in our plane from Pennsylvania so we spent three hours in the Charlottesville airport and five in Los Angeles. Ugh. But it still went pretty darn well as far as the children go and so we’ll just be thankful.

And then, hallelujah, we were there. And that first day was such a stunner and Wes was like, today has already made yesterday worth it. And it’s true. We’re headed into some cloudy weather but our first few days were spectacular and the kids have been having a riot and it’s just wonderful.

Jack bebops all over the backyard and a couple other people’s backyards and goes up and down the stairs accompanied by the faithful Cody, picking flowers and telling himself not to pick flowers.

Ev hops everywhere with an occasional skip thrown in. I’m getting a little nervous that my three year old can possibly outrun me. Both kids love the water and we all freeze our toes off.

And most days have ended with them in this bucket and all the heart eyes come out.

I spend a lot of time looking out our windows. When it’s too cold to have Ivy outside but warm enough to send the kids out, I bundle them up and shoo them out and sit back and enjoy the show. They come back in about every five minutes to ask for donuts and I shoo them back out. Occasionally I have to bark out the door when Jack becomes overly affectionate to Gladys but much of the time I just watch with an amused expression at the conversations that are taking place.

I can’t hear a word they’re saying but Ev always has lots of ideas and things to say and while Jack doesn’t use words to converse, he definitely can get his point across. The other day, she decided she needed his help to get off the slide and all I saw was a hand emerge. Jack stared at it for a bit, like, what are you doing? But then he finally got, clasped her hand, and pulled. And when she stood up with his help you’d have thought he’d been given the world, such was his delight. And so, diligent son that he is, he waited at the bottom of the slide as she continued to go up and down, always there to lend a helping hand with the biggest grin on his face.

It’s even better when Wes is home. Jack never stops running. Just as soon as he’s caught up with Wes in one area of the yard, Wes takes off to go get more sticks/pine needles/whatever. Jack’s legs work double time as soon as he realizes Wes has moved on and I just love to watch from my stadium seat. And then there’s watching for Dad to come home. Best part of the day. I love the looks on their faces when they realize its his car. And they run to his door, get in, Jack honks the horn, Ev asks for gum and I smile as I pass the baton.

Woot!! Although I’ve been happy dancing through February, even performing a few cartwheels for my IG friends because of how stupendous the weather has been. It is seriously life transforming to get the kids outside. My house stays much more intact, so does my brain, and there’s nothing like watching your kids just run. So all sorts of praises for mild winters.

Not much in the blog world for a couple of obvious reasons. If the stars align, I can occasionally get all three kids to nap together in the afternoon. Sometimes this gives me 30 minutes to myself, sometimes two hours, and once or twice, three hours (gasp). It’s the most magical thing ever and I find myself dancing around the house in glee.

And there’s a couple things that are always on the docket if I do get myself this time. I’m a new Yoga aficionado. I’m doing Yoga with Adriene and I’m kinda loving it. It makes me be still and thoughtfully exercise instead of trying to cram through a workout, going as fast as possible because who know when chaos will wake up. And so along with renewing the body, I’m soaking up some Psalms or pondering my armor of God study and so this renewing of this spirit, soul, mind and body then leads to the dance parties around the house.

And then usually the house wakes up and so blogging definitely is on the back burner.

I mentioned my dad was coming last blog post. That was such an incredible boost. I got to go out (with Ivy) and eat a slow paced dinner (she slept with Poppi the entire time), one on one with my dad (adult conversation!) for the first time in forever. Then he was just at my house for 2 days and it was just swell. A real mid winter, 3 kid boost.

And since that last post, Ev and I have spent a lot of time discussing the making good decisions and good ideas versus bad ideas. So thankfully, we haven’t had a repeat kitchen incidence. Just more like them thundering up the stairs, Ev leading the charge, ‘Hey mom! Can we eat these?’. And while she’s waving my chocolate covered caramel filled candies that I thought were hidden from Trader Joes, Jack’s grinning with chocolate drool coming out of his face.

haha.

Ivy’s doing well, just checked in at 10 pounds 4 oz at her 2 month check up. I believe she’s my earliest smiler and is just pretty sweet all around. She is very well doted upon and generally takes it pretty well, although I think she already knows when it’s Jack holding her and begins to protest.

Gosh. The things they find to entertain themselves with and their joy filled expressions just make my day.